The GNOME developers announced last evening, November 12, the immediate availability for download of the stable GNOME Shell 3.6.2 user interface for the GNOME 3 desktop environment.

GNOME Shell 3.6.2 is the second maintenance release for the GNOME Shell 3.6 UI, which is part of the GNOME 3.6.2 desktop environment update, due for release tomorrow, November 14, 2012.

GNOME Shell 3.6.2 brings various fixes, new additions and enhancements, as well as updated translations.

This is the last stable release for GNOME Shell 3.6. The next stable version will be GNOME Shell 3.8, due for release next year, on March 27, 2013.

Highlights of GNOME Shell 3.6.2:

• org.gnome.ScreenSaver.GetActiveTime was implemented;• gnome-screensaver is now loaded by default if GDM (GNOME Display Manager) is not running;• Implemented the 'disable-user-list' option in the GNOME login screen;• Screenshots were fixed on Big Endian;• Notifications are now hidden by default when the close button is clicked;• The main page was updated;• The screenShield animations were tweaked;• Empathy was set as preferred handler when channels are delegated;• Fittsability was restored for summary items in the message tray area;• Chat notifications now allow auto-scroll to bottom;• Added a setting to force menuitem log out;• Added 'Match GenericName' to the app search engine;• Various other bugs have been fixed, including #686233, #686484, #686487, #686630, #686728, #686574, #686574, #686574, #686879, #686763, #685239, #687189, #686736, #686583, #687132, #687958, #687020, #687708, #686888, #686530, #684810, #688181.

Last but not least, numerous translations have been updated in this stable release of GNOME Shell, including Japanese, Polish, Spanish, Belgian, Russian, Slovakian, Slovenian, German, and others.

Stay tuned for more info about the upcoming GNOME 3.6.2 desktop environment, which will see the light of day on Wednesday, November 14 – if everything goes according to plan.